Over 226T city voters to troop polling places
The city's 226,325 registered voters will join some 38 million voters in the country in casting their votes today for the midterm national and local elections.
Different watchdogs such as the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) have deployed volunteers to help ensure an honest, orderly and peaceful elections.
The voting in the city's 1,144 polling precincts starts at 7:00 a.m. and will end at exactly 3:00 p.m.. The electorates will vote for 12 senators out of the 37 candidates, one partylist out of the 93 partylist groups, one congressional candidate out of the three candidates, one mayoralty candidate out of the three, one vice mayor out of the two candidates and 12 councilors out of the 31 candidates. The board of election canvassers will convene at 6 p.m. at the Iloilo Social Hall beside the Department of Education (DepEd) City Division Office in Mabini Street to canvass the election returns prior to the declaration of winners.
Among the prohibited acts until 12 midnight today are: a) Campaigning, b) Selling, furnishing, offering, buying, serving or taking intoxicating liquor, b) Giving, accepting free transportation, food, drinks and things of value, c) Soliciting votes or undertaking any propaganda for or against any candidate or any political party within the polling place or within thirty (30) meters thereof, d) Voting more than once or in substitution of another, e) Holding of fairs, cockfights, boxing, horse races or similar sports, and f) Opening of booths or stalls for the sale, etc., of merchandise or refreshments within a radius of thirty meters from the polling place.
Normally, however, even with the start of the casting of votes some candidates still find ways to campaign secretly by hiring children to give out sample ballots at the entrance of polling places.
Other voters also wait for the last hour before they go to the polling precincts probably to wait for the "envelopes" from different leaders of candidates.
In the Philippine election, vote buying and use of hired goons to intimidate the voters are a common scenario particularly those in far-flung barangays and island-barangays. If they could not be bought by money, for sure, they will be forced to vote because of intimidation.
To protect the results of the election, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and other organizations will field number of volunteers to serve as watchdog. Here, each parish under the Archdiocese of Jaro have already put in place all those volunteers for the conduct of election and same time counting of votes.